Francis Ngannou Insists Uppercut Led To Cain Velasquez KO, Not Knee Injury

Last night’s (Sun. February 17, 2019) UFC Phoenix card ended with an awkward knockout win for Francis Ngannou over Cain Velasquez.

The fight lasted less than 30 seconds, as Velasquez went down after eating an uppercut from Ngannou and taking some heavy shots on the ground. However, Velasquez landed awkwardly on his knee, immediately grasping at it after falling to the canvas. Velasquez has said he was never hurt by any of Ngannou’s shots, and was instead put out by the knee injury.

Ngannou holds a different perspective, however. Speaking at the post-fight press conference, “The Predator” said the uppercut was clearly the factor that led to the Mexican star’s demise (via MMA Fighting):

“No, because the knee buckled after an uppercut on his chin,” Ngannou said. “You can look at the video about it, so you can find out and you will see the uppercut. That might be why his knee buckled, because he got disconnected.”

In the moment of the exchange against the cage, Ngannou threw a ton of punches as Velasquez was attempting to take him down. However, he didn’t feel the impact of them in real time. After rewatching the video afterward, Ngannou is confident it was the uppercut that got the victory:

“In the fight, I couldn’t see that, but I watched the video and you guys can also watch the video,” Ngannou said. “So when the uppercut, that shot connected he just fell right way. I think that’s what hurt his knee.”